Talk of the Teachers' Lounge
by Cautiously Optimistic
Summary: There's a new student at Forks High--Isabella Swan--and the students aren't the only ones who noticed. The teachers have been talking too, and they have plenty to say about Forks' newest dramas. But what are they really saying in the teachers' lounge?
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: This is just a fan fiction—I don't own any of this. Please don't sue.

**A/N: First, this really isn't an angsty or plot-driven story, so if that's what you were looking for, you might want to find something else to read. I just had fun writing as Mrs. Cope, and hopefully you'll have some fun reading it. Also, keep in mind that this is just the introduction and that later chapters will have much more dialogue. **

Shelly Cope POV

I snuck down to the teacher's lounge at the first opportunity. I was sure that nobody would be in here for at least the next two classes; everybody _else_ had something to do. And nobody ever came to the front office, especially in the middle of the day. In a school this small, why would they? Nothing much ever seemed to happen with so many students, and the most I ever did was help hand out schedules on the first day of school and collect attendance forms. Now, halfway through November, I was bored to death as I listened to each tick of the clock on the wall.

So I didn't feel guilty at all as I swung open the door and took my usual seat on one of the faded lounge chairs. Sandwiched between a broken vending machine and a four-foot potted plant, I struck up a conversation with the only other person here, Coach Clapp. He didn't have much to say, though. I didn't know how a gym teacher could possibly be _so_ absorbed in a lesson plan, but he treated his little notebook like a newborn baby. I understood that he wanted to get some work done, but wasn't it common courtesy to at least _respond _when somebody was trying to have a pleasant conversation?

Coach Clapp left after about five minutes, muttering something about his next class, although I knew he still had half an hour before the next set of classes began. _Oh well_, I thought. _If nothing else, at least the teacher's lounge is a change in scenery._ Then I wondered for a few minutes about how the Cullens, the only new students besides the freshmen, were doing. Especially the youngest boy… I would have check in on him sometime. I knew Forks wasn't the best place for new students, as most of the people here had played together as toddlers and weren't very receptive to anybody new or different. And the Cullens were definitely different.

Mr. Greene, the school principal, walked in just then, and I knew I was busted. I froze up, but my heart raced on, and I was sure you could hear it from across the hall. Maybe if I concentrated really hard, I could make myself invisible--wasn't it at least worth a try? But my efforts were in vain; Mr. Greene spotted me sitting on the shabby recliner, and he opened his mouth to speak.

"Shouldn't you be working, Shelly?"

"Shouldn't you?" I responded, and then I instantly realized what I had done. My eyes widened in horror as I wondered what Mr. Greene, one of the only people in this school who could fire me, would do. _Please don't fire me, _I thought. _Don't fire me, Don't fire me, Don't fire me…_

He frowned at me for a moment, and then simply said, "Get back to your desk. Whatever you were doing here, you're done now."

I should have known he wouldn't fire me, I guess. Even if I was only a school secretary, I would be hard to replace. There weren't many people here who were willing to work such a dull, tedious job; it could take Mr. Greene months to find someone to take over my work. I sighed, quietly enough that he wouldn't hear, and trudged back through the rain to my flyer- covered desk at the front office. I straightened a few papers and then remembered the huge calendar on the wall, where I had penciled in every number one through 180, careful not to miss a single school day. Today was apparently day 49, which meant that there were still…131 days of school to go. I groaned and slumped back into my little plastic folding chair.

Tomorrow I would go back to the teacher's lounge, I decided. I could just tell everybody that I was on a coffee break, and that I would be back to work in no more than 15 minutes. As long as nobody stayed in the lounge for very long, which they never did, I probably wouldn't get caught. It wasn't much, but at least it would be more interesting than sitting around at a desk all day.

I leaned back in my sad excuse for a chair, as comfortable as anybody could be while sitting on an oversized piece of plastic. My grin stretched from ear to ear, and I knew that it didn't matter how little work there would be for me tomorrow; I would definitely have something to do. _Teacher's lounge, here I come…_

**A/N: I have a request for any beta-readers reading this: PM me asap if you would consider beta-ing me. If I don't get any offers soon I'll try to find a beta on my own (out of the thousands out there :P ), but it'd be great to hear from somebody who's already familiar with this story. So please, contact me if you're interested, and if you can't beta, at least review so I know what you think so far!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Talk of the Teachers Lounge **

**A/N: So, these chapters are mostly going to be short, but I want you guys to have a little more to read at once, so expect me to combine a few days of gossip into one chapter (right now we're in the first and second weeks of Bella's arrival). Also, I could use a beta reader, so if you have the time and you're interested, please PM me!**

Shelly Cope POV

I was back in the teacher's lounge. Again. But how could you blame me? With a new student in town, I finally had something to talk about. My enormous coffee mug was not even half-empty so far, and as long as I had any coffee left, I would be here.

"So," I began, "I guess the students are finally getting tired of gossiping about the new girl."

"Ah, yes, Bella Swan," said Mr. Mason, who until now I'd thought was entirely absorbed in his crossword puzzle. "She's a pretty good student; I have her in one of my English classes. She is a bit of a klutz, though; she's hasn't been here for one week, and she's already managed to trip over one of my other students."

"'A bit of a klutz'? Are you kidding me?" Coach Clapp asked incredulously. "I didn't even know you _could _trip over your own feet, until I met Ms. Swan, that is. And the way she's been going, everybody in my gym class will have to be carried out in a stretcher soon."

"Wait," I said. "Is Newton still flirting with Bella? She hasn't gotten him injured yet? I mean, how long will he go on before he realizes it's not worth it to put himself in danger like that?"

"It's not funny, Shelly, really. I'm responsible for all these kids—if Newton gets a concussion because he wants to be on Bella's team, I'm the one who's going to be blamed, not the girl. And I'm a gym teacher, not a babysitter."

"But you were just wishing for a new student a couple weeks ago! Is the poor girl not good enough? You know, I'm sure she's having a hard enough time here without you wishing she were somebody else."

"She doesn't have to be somebody else; I just wish she wasn't so lethal! That girl's a danger magnet stronger than I've ever seen before!"

"Well, you know—"

Mr. Mason must have been very annoyed at that point, because he interrupted me then to whistle. And I learned right then that Mr. Mason was a _very_ loud whistler. He had our attention in half a second.

"Please," he begged, "please, just let me finish my crossword puzzle in peace. I deal with enough children during my classes; I don't need you two bickering. You two alone are worse than two of my classes combined!"

There was a moment of stunned silence, and then I snickered, "You know, speaking of lethal, do you do that whistle thing to your students? Because if so, I may want to start moving your students to other classes. That's really not fair."

"I use it on occasion," he admitted. "Seventeen juniors crammed into a room together for an hour can be pretty loud. Of course, they always spend the next five minutes trying to imitate the sound, so it doesn't help as much as you might think."

We laughed for a little longer, and quiet invaded the lounge until a few minutes later when the bell rang. The three of us groaned as we stood up to go back to the chaos in the rest of the school. It got a lot louder for about ten seconds as Mr. Mason and Coach Clapp walked out the door into the noisy, bustling hallway. We said our good-byes, and then I was standing in a tiny teachers lounge with only some furniture and a coffee machine for company.

I glanced into my coffee mug and frowned. I still had about a quarter of the cup to go, and it wasn't decaf coffee. As I downed the rest of the coffee, I could feel the rush of energy shoot through me. _It's a good thing the day is almost over,_ I thought, _because when all this caffeine wears off in a couple hours, I'm going to need to be near a nice couch or bed. I wonder if I even remember how to stay awake without the energy from all this caffeine. Maybe it's finally time to switch to decaf._

Almost ready to go home, I followed Coach Clapp and Mr. Mason out the door and walked back down to the front office and the big calendar that counted down all the school days for me. There would probably be more attendance slips for me. Or maybe the school had found some mistake with Bella's schedule that they wanted me to fix immediately. Either way, catching up on all the gossip at the teachers' lounge was my new favorite part of the day. I almost couldn't wait for Monday to start next week, just because I wanted to see if anything exciting would happen.

The weekend was pretty uneventful for me. I spent my Friday night watching TV with a bowl of popcorn in my lap, and other than that, the most exciting thing I did was probably when I went grocery shopping on Saturday. Monday was also typical. It did snow on Monday, but I prided myself on having more to talk about than the weather, especially in Forks where all it ever did was rain.

Tuesday was the big story of the week, it turned out.

It had all started like a normal Tuesday; I drove to the school, and I was about to go inside and dry myself off when I saw Tyler's van skid on the fresh layer of snow and ice. Time seemed to slow down as I saw the van hurtling right towards Bella Swan, and I rushed forward to see what had happened.

Bella was there along with Edward, and miraculously, they both looked fine—Bella's truck must have absorbed most of impact. An ambulance brought them to the Forks hospital, and I felt the urge to follow the ambulance along with some of the upperclassmen who were driving toward the hospital. I knew I couldn't though, since the nurse and I were expected to notify and calm down the students' parents in a situation like this.

I went to the front office, and I found that Mrs. Hammond, our nurse had already started making the calls. Although I was itching to get over to the teachers' lounge and spread the news, I knew that this was a bad time to try to leave the office. I settled for sending out an email telling the entire staff that Edward Cullen, Tyler Crowley, and Isabella Swan were at the hospital, not cutting their classes. I was in charge of reporting the students who cut classes, so none of the kids would have gotten in trouble anyway, but this way I sounded like I was trying to do my job instead of just gossip.

The rest of the day was pretty hectic as we tried to focus the students back on school. I didn't have a chance to run back to the teachers' lounge and drink a ton of coffee, but I did pass Coach Clapp in the hallway.

"Wow, Coach," I said, "you were right about Swan. That girl _is_ lethal!"

He paled, and I could see that what he was going to say next really worried him. "What if that was my fault?" he asked. "Maybe if I hadn't said anything—"

"Oh, stop it. You know it would have happened anyway, and in any case, it's not really so bad. Even Tyler only had some scratches, and he was hurt the worst of all of them.

He still looked unhappy, but I didn't have time to reason with him; I had to go back to my desk in case anybody called about the accident or the principal came in to ask me if we'd gotten all the students back yet.

I'd seen and heard worse, so I wasn't worried, but all of the other teachers seemed to be stressed about the accident, especially when the students involved didn't come back to school that day. I was interested in the story, but only because everybody else was talking about it, and I was happy, not anxious. Somehow, the new girl had gotten the whole school talking, and I could tell there would be more to say about her for a while. I liked Isabella Swan already.

**What did you think? Review and tell me!**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: I'm still looking for a beta reader, (4/25) so if you have the time and you're interested, please PM me. Reviews are great feedback, but I feel like I need an extra person who can help me catch the stupid stuff before I publish. Now, on to the story!**

Shelly Cope POV

Over the next couple of days, I had the pleasure of watching and listening as the students of Forks High found dates for the upcoming dance. Naturally, the couples who were already together went to the dance together, but there were also students who were single and desperately looking for a date. They were always the most interesting to watch, and to be honest, scrambles like these were one of the reasons I chose to work as a high school receptionist. Oh sure, I told others that it was just because I needed the job, but I knew that I could find work as a receptionist anywhere. The students—and their inevitable drama— were the reason I was at a high school rather than a dentist or lawyer's office somewhere.

Mostly I watched Bella Swan. After all, she was the new girl, the one I was trying to figure out. But I kept track of all the other couples too, and thanks to my continual adventures into the teachers' lounge, the faculty also knew all the couples.

So far, it seemed she was either going to the dance dateless, or she wasn't going at all. I knew several guys must have asked her out, but she'd turned them all down for one reason or another. And, if my suspicions were correct, she had set up her friends with all the boys who had asked her out; it would explain why three of her closest friends were going out with the three people who seemed most interested in Bella.

"So, Mr. Varner," I began, "I heard that Newton and Stanley are an item now. Or do you think that was just a rumor?"

"Huh?" came the insightful response I'd been waiting for. Mr. Varner was certainly not the most loquacious person here, although I suppose I already knew that: I had taken that title within my first month here.

"You know," I prompted. "For the school dance. I was talking to Mrs. Stanley the other day, and she said that her daughter, Jessica Stanley, was going out to the dance with Mike Newton. But I know Jessica has had a crush on Mike without him realizing it, poor girl, and maybe Newton actually turned her down but Jessica lied to her mother so she wouldn't be embarrassed. Or maybe Jessica isn't going with Mike and Mrs. Stanley is in on it! Mrs. Stanley would probably be willing to spread that rumor so that nobody else would know that her daughter was rejected, and then—wait, but wouldn't the other students figure it out at the dance? What do you think is going on?"

"Umm…I don't know. I didn't even know there was a dance. Maybe somebody else could help you?"

I gaped at him, completely shocked. "But-but I put posters _everywhere_! How could you not see them? Oh no, what if nobody saw them and we pay for the DJ and decorations and nobody comes? Then we would lose money and it would be my fault for not putting the posters where people could see them and—Mr. Varner? Where are you going?"

"I have to go…um… well, I have to go. Bye."

Then he walked out, leaving me alone in the lounge. This seemed to happen a lot. Was it something about me?

I remembered with a start that I was supposed to be at the front office at eleven-thirty this morning, and if the clock on the wall was right, I only had four minutes to get back. We had hired a new guidance counselor, and I was in charge of her orientation. I was back at my desk only about two minutes before the new teacher walked in.

The new counselor was young, probably just out of school herself. She was slender and an average height and her hair hung just past her shoulders in loose brunette curls. "Ms. Tratsch," she said as an introduction as we shook hands.

"Mrs. Cope," I responded. "I'll be showing you around the school today, you know, helping you figure things out. Now let's see, I had a map somewhere around here…aha. Here you go—not a very big place, as I'm sure you've figured out already, but that'll make it easier for you to find your way."

I led her around the school, showing her all the important rooms. There wasn't much to a school tour at Forks High, so I'd shown her everything I could and was still bored with the tour. Before the end of the tour, I was certain that she knew not only where the cafeteria, office, and teachers' lounge were, but also which classrooms are in each building.

Ms. Tratsch stopped suddenly in building three, mouth hanging slightly open. I recognized that look, and sure enough, I saw that she was staring at Edward Cullen. I knew his charm a little too well, and I decided to warn her of his age before she could get too carried away. "Slow down there, Juliet," I began. "That's Edward Cullen, a _student_. I know he's not so bad to look at, but…"

"Yeah, I get it," she said. "Still, his girlfriend must be one lucky girl."

"Actually, I think he's still single. By his own choice, I'm sure, since he obviously could have any girl here he liked."

She nodded in agreement, laughing a little at her own situation. Uneasiness aside, I was grateful for the interruption in our dull tour. That short exchange had broken a kind of professional barrier between us, and about five minutes later, we were chatting happily as if we had known each other for years. I soon found that she was as interested in the lives of the students as I was, and I could tell that I was on my way to making a true friend here at Forks High.

We had found our way back to the front office, and I told her that if she had any questions, she shouldn't hesitate to come back and ask me. I was also sure to mention that if I wasn't at the front office, she could probably find me at the teachers' lounge.

When I looked at the clock, I realized with a shock that the tour had taken up about an hour, and I had a stack of field trip forms sitting on my desk. I set back to work, and I didn't mind that the rest of the day passed uneventfully; I could sense that there would be more excitement to come, and that was enough for me.

________________________________________________________________________

"Blood typing? Really, Bob?"

"I thought it would be fun for the kids," Bob Banner said in defense.

"Not for us," I groaned. "I guess it's only a matter of time before one of your students passes out. I'd better go warn Julia."

I walked to my desk, prepared for one of Mr. Banner's students to come in at any moment. Julia Hammond, our sweet old school nurse, had already put an ice pack into the freezer and made up the worn-down cot in the office.

Although I was ready to have to deal with a nauseated student, I was not at all prepared for the scene that greeted me about ten minutes into 5th period: even in my dreams, it wasn't something I would have expected to see.

Edward Cullen walked in carrying—yes, carrying!—Isabella Swan, who looked even paler than usual, and just a little green. "Oh, my," I gasped, hurrying to open the door to the nurse's office.

"She fainted in Biology," he explained, not realizing that that was not the true source of my shock. I had guessed that somebody would come in today, but how was I supposed to guess that she would be carried in, by none other than Edward Cullen? Had I missed something? Both students went into the nurse's office, leaving me to my thoughts.

After only a few minutes, Mike Newton walked in with Lee Stevens, another of Mr. Banner's students, whom I could plainly see was bleeding. This student walked in himself, which was more like what I had expected to see, and I was much calmer this time. "We've got another one," I warned the nurse, and Bella and Edward rushed out of the office, presumably to get Bella away from the blood.

Mike left the office soon after, and things began to quiet down again. I rather doubted that the students were going back to Biology, and I also didn't care. It would serve Bob right for making his students blood type in class, especially as he hadn't asked any of us first. _I might have to have a word with him_, I thought, shaking my head as I went back into the nurse's office to see if Julia needed any help with Lee.

Coming back to sit at my desk after helping Julia, I found Bella sitting in one of the plastic chairs along the wall and Edward standing in front of my desk. He asked if I could excuse Bella from gym class, and I certainly couldn't say no to him. _Too young, get a hold of yourself!_

I asked him if he wanted a pass, too, but he said his teacher wouldn't care. If he had been anybody else, I might have argued, but I knew nobody cared when the Cullens missed classes. We couldn't understand why they bothered coming to high school at all when they were clearly so smart, and I knew he was right when he said that it didn't matter whether I excused him. I sent out a quick email to Coach Clapp, explaining why Bella would not be in class today, and I saw Edward and Bella leave the office once more.

There was not enough time today to seek out Ms. Tratsch or run down to the teachers' lounge, so I sat back in my chair and tried to gather my thoughts. My brain still felt scrambled from talking to Edward, but I was calm enough to make an important observation about the day's events.

Edward had seemed oddly protective of Bella today, and I could tell that they were beginning to like each other. As friends at least, and probably more. Jealousy aside, I was excited to see how that would play out—how Bella could woo one of the most distant people in the school. I knew better than to expect too much out of a high school couple, but I had a feeling that if those two became a couple, they were going to have the school talking more than any Forks couple had before.

I guess I was just going to have to wait and see.

**A/N: I know this isn't a huge chapter, so I'm sorry it wasn't out sooner, but I didn't have as much time to write as I'd have liked; school hit me pretty hard.**

**Anyway, you've read the story, now go review! I'll never withhold a chapter for reviews, but I want to know what you liked and what you didn't, so… well, what else can I say?**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: I'm going to start including other people's point of views to mix things up a little, so make sure you know which teacher is "speaking"! Also, I was hoping to have this out a little sooner, but I'll spare you the excuses so you can continue to the story.**

**Shelly Cope POV**

I stared in shock at Bella's jacket. It was just a regular jacket, I guess, nothing I would usually have noticed. Except I recognized it as Edward's jacket, and Bella was the one wearing it as she and Edward walked up to school.

_Are they dating? _I'd never thought that Edward would choose to date any of the girls here. In fact, I was beginning to question whether he even liked girls, but if he was actually dating Isabella Swan…

I saw Karen Tratsch, my newest friend here, walking into the school, and I quickly waved her over. She came up to me and followed my line of sight to Edward and Bella, who were now talking to Jessica (whom I now knew for sure was bringing Newton to the upcoming dance). Karen looked at Edward and Bella mostly in confusion, but I could tell that she was also excited about the new couple. "You said Edward didn't date," she accused.

"He didn't," I said simply, and I realized that for once, I didn't really know what to say. This was a strange and somewhat awkward feeling for me, so I decided to go fill in the other teachers and see if any of them would have anything to say about it.

I walked quickly towards the teachers' lounge. I missed it—it had been over a week since I'd been here to chat with the other teachers. Of course, this wouldn't be like the casual conversations I'd had before. Forks High School was finally showing signs of life, and I felt almost obliged to report to the other teachers. Not that they cared the way I did; I was going to have to start bringing Karen in here so that I could have a real conversation every now and then.

I pushed open the heavy door, poured myself a large mug of coffee—I had learned by now to drink decaf—and I began to update the other teachers on the story of the day, Bella and Edward.

**Coach Clapp POV**

I loved being a gym teacher. I'd always loved sports, and working in a gym was actually sort of a dream job for me. My lesson plans were incredibly easy to write, and as I had no tests or papers to grade, I ended up with a lot of free time. That meant that I spent a fair amount of time just sitting in the teachers' lounge, which did get boring after too long.

Shelly burst through the door just then and poured herself enough coffee to last at least half an hour. She hadn't said anything yet, but her very entrance seemed to make the lounge a little louder and busier. I fought the urge to roll my eyes as she sat down and took a sip of her coffee. I had an idea of what was coming next, and a few seconds later, Shelly proved me right.

"So," she announced, sounding pleased with herself for some reason. "Have either of you seen Bella or Edward this morning?"

"Shelly, classes haven't even started yet. Should we have seen them?" Mrs. Goff asked.

"Yes!" she exclaimed. "They came to school together today, and Bella was wearing Edward's jacket. I think they're dating!"

"So?" I asked her. "We get new couples every year, and none of them ever last. Even you don't care about half the couples in this school. What makes these two so special?"

Shelly looked at me in pure shock, genuinely unable to understand that I didn't care. "Well, what _doesn't_ make them special?" she responded. "I never thought Edward would date anybody here, but he just looks so attached to Bella already! And they'll be perfect together; you just wait and see! Don't you think so, Mrs. Goff? I give them at least 18 months together!"

"I have to go teach soon, Shelly. I really don't have time…"

"I'll bet they don't last three weeks, with so much extra attention from people like you," I stated proudly. I could sense a new bet coming on, and I secretly adored making bets. I loved the adrenaline rush when I won, and I lived for competition in almost any form. So I was thrilled when Shelly pulled out paper and a pen and wrote _Coach Clapp- three weeks_. She must have enjoyed the drama as much as I enjoyed the competition.

Then she asked Mrs. Goff how long she thought Bella and Edward would last. Mrs. Goff quickly answered, "five months," before hurrying out the door to prepare for her Spanish class, leaving only Shelly and me.

Shelly shrugged, hung up her paper on the bulletin board, and turned back to me. "I'm going to find other teachers; I think we can get a real bet going. The winner will be whoever gets closest without going over, naturally. And did you want to put any money on it? Whoever wins could get triple whatever he or she decided to bet, and then if we have any money left, maybe we could actually get the vending machine repaired!"

I dug around in my pocket, checking to see if I had any money with me. Sure, Shelly was a little crazy, but it didn't seem like such a bad idea, and who was I to turn down a bet? However, it would have been nice if I actually carried money, rather than relying so much on my credit card.

"I can give you 5 dollars and 12 cents," I told her after thoroughly checking both my pocket and my wallet. She chuckled at the dismal amount, but then she stashed the money under our useless vending machine and added 20 dollars of her own. Teachers here didn't have very much money to waste on bets, so Shelly was going to get a lot of us in on this if we actually wanted our vending machine fixed. For some reason, I didn't doubt that she would get enough money to get it working

The bell rang, and I began to gather my things to go to my first class of the day. Mr. Varner came in, followed by Ms. Tratsch, our newest staff member. By the time I left the room, Shelly had already started talking to the other two about Bella, Edward, and the bet we had started. It occurred to me then just how excited Shelly was, and I began to share some of her enthusiasm. We were finally going to have a working vending machine!

My day passed smoothly, at least until sixth period gym with Isabella Swan. I had spent the last two classes telling everybody the rules of badminton because although I'm sure they'd heard it all before, I was required to explain every little or obscure rule ever invented. Most of my students picked it up quickly, and it was nice to see everybody moving again. They'd looked almost catatonic last class as they waited for me to stop lecturing them, and I didn't really like to talk for so long either.

But I saw Bella amble into class looking a little like she'd just been hypnotized. I wondered briefly if it was because she was dating Edward, in which case I was almost certainly going to lose my five dollars and twelve cents. Then again, I'd never been very observant or good at figuring people out, so maybe she always acted like this and I was misinterpreting her.

Mike Newton offered—again—to team up with Bella, even though he'd been doing this for months and Bella was clearly still uninterested. He took all of the shots, and though I wanted to give Bella points for just changing, I knew I had to make her try to play. Maybe she would even be good at badminton!

Isabella Swan was horrible at badminton, as it turns out. At my request she had tried to play, but somehow she clipped herself on the head with her racket, which then flew out of her hand to hit Mike in the shoulder. I tried to contain my laughter, but I still let out a chuckle; Bella's shot was amazing, if she had been _trying_ to injure everybody. I apologized to Mike and let him go back to playing for Bella.

Thankfully, there were only ten minutes left until the end of the day, and soon I could excuse everybody back to the locker rooms, so I was almost done. After all the betting and that badminton disaster, I needed to get home to unwind. But I had to say, things were getting a little less boring around here, and I of all people could appreciate the extra excitement. I had expected working in a small town to be intolerably peaceful, and for once, I was very glad to be wrong.

**A/N: Ok, here's everybody's favorite part, the part where I beg you all for feedback. Please guys, you only need like one minute to write a helpful review, and**_** I**_** like to know what **_**you**_** like to read. What is it that keeps you coming back to read more, or what is it you don't really like? Review!**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: I'm sorry, I know this took forever. I've been sick, so I kept falling asleep when I was supposed to do homework, and that meant I had to do homework when I would have done this. Hopefully I can get back into the habit of writing now, but I'm still busy, and I won't make any promises.**

**Bob Banner POV**

I'd put 11 months on Bella and Edward in Shelly Cope's crazy bet, because who was I kidding? I saw the way those two acted during my Biology class. They both looked ready to burst whenever either one got within two feet of the other; they were obviously as excited as the rest of the school about their new relationship.

Lately, Bella and Edward had seemed attached at the hip, and Shelly was getting smug. She just loved her predictions to come true, and she loved talking about them even more. Karen Tratsch, the newest person here and Shelly's new friend, was learning quickly. Honestly, I'd been avoiding the teachers' lounge lately so that I wouldn't have to hear them gossiping all the time. Shelly wasn't so bad by herself—sometimes she was a little amusing—but now that she had a friend to gossip with, she never seemed to stop talking.

It was only on rare occasions that I went to the teachers lounge now, except for maybe a five-minute break to get a fresh cup of coffee. However, I had been missing the teachers' lounge, so I walked down the hall today hoping I might be able to get some work done in my favorite chair.

Only Mr. Mason was here, and I saw that he was working desperately, trying to finish grading the last few essays in his stack. I sat down in the old armchair in relief and spent the next 10 minutes drawing up a lesson plan for the coming week. Mr. Mason and I finished our work around the same time, so I started an idle conversation with him to pass the time.

"It's pretty quiet in here without Shelly and Karen, isn't it?" I asked.

He let out a small chuckle, and agreed. "You have to give Shelly some credit, though," he began. "She does make things a little more interesting around here. That's no small feat in a town as dull as Forks."

Just then, as if she'd been waiting for the perfect moment to interrupt, Shelly opened the door and rushed into the lounge. "Have either of you seen any of the Cullens lately? Or Isabella Swan?"

Mr. Mason and I glanced at each other, surprised by the question. It was Wednesday now, and when I thought back, I realized that I hadn't seen any of them in my science classes since Friday. I guess science isn't the only class they had decided to cut, because Mr. Mason seemed to be thinking the same thing.

"The Cullens do skip school a lot," I noted.

"But it's not even sunny out today, and Isabella Swan is gone too. She _never_ leaves school, and now we've been missing six kids since Friday."

"I'm sure you'll hear soon where they are, and anyway, you're not their mother," I reassured her. "You won't lose your job just because you can't tell me where every single student is at this moment."

"I'm getting worried about them, though! Where do you think they are?"

"Shelly, they're teenagers. They probably all decided that they wanted to go to the beach or something," Mr. Mason said, clearly hoping Shelly would calm down. She nodded absentmindedly, realizing that we couldn't help her, and she walked out the door as quickly as she had come.

I hated to see Shelly worked up like this. She was a little annoying when she was happy and chatty, but at least then she was happy. This side of her only came out when she was really worried, and it was truly hard on everybody to see her so upset.

**Shelly Cope POV**

I didn't care what Bob said, it was definitely my job to know where our students are. Even the Cullens don't leave for so long with the whole family, and they _never_ bring a friend along. Making my way to the phone on my desk, I promised myself to learn as much as I could from whoever would tell me. If I needed to, I would call up the town gossips for information.

Whom to call first: the Cullens or Mr. Swan? I debated between my two options, and then I looked up the Cullens' contact information to find a phone number. Charlie Swan might not know that Isabella wasn't showing up for school, and I would hate be the one to tell the Chief of Police that we were missing his daughter.

I called the Cullens' house; the phone rang once, twice, six times before I got to the answering machine. I left my message stating that the Cullens were not in school and that we needed a note or explanation of some kind if at all possible.

Really, I guess I had known that the Cullens wouldn't help me. I called Chief Swan, dreading this conversation. He answered on the third ring, and I informed him that his daughter hadn't showed up for classes since Friday, and I asked him if she was okay. I had expected the Cullens' answer, or lack thereof, but Charlie's answer shocked me.

"She's in Phoenix, I think," he began. "She left on Sunday night, and I'm not sure she'll ever be back."

Wait, what?

"You _think_ she's in Phoenix?" I asked him.

"I haven't gotten to talk to her since she left. She just packed her bags and left without looking back. Said she didn't want to get stuck here…" he told me, his voice low.

Charlie sounded like a mess, and I didn't want to pry any more, but I still didn't understand the Cullens' absence, and I asked him if he had any clues.

"That's strange. Bella told me she was breaking up with Edward, but maybe he left to talk to her. I can't imagine why the whole family would leave, though. The Cullens don't really do what I would expect."

"Well, thank you for your help, Chief Swan. I'll get back in touch with you if I have any other questions or information." I hung up.

That was interesting! Of course, I'd lose my bet if Charlie was right and Bella and Edward had broken up, but that hardly mattered right now. And in any case, I always liked to check my sources before retelling any rumors. I was more interested to know where exactly our students had gone. It sounded like even Carlisle and Esme had left, and Carlisle never liked to miss his work for so long.

My next stop was Karen's miniscule office down in building two. Although she was technically still in training, she was a guidance counselor. If there was something to know, she would be the one who knew it.

There was nothing to know. I chatted with her for a few minutes anyway, but I found out quickly that none of the missing students had been having problems of any kind that would make them skip classes. Until just now, everything had been fine. I would have to give up my search for now and hope that the students might show up soon, perhaps with some new explanation or story. I was nearly shaking with impatience, and I hoped not to wait too long.

**A/N: Another chapter or two will wrap up **_**Twilight**_**, and I do plan to continue this with **_**New Moon **_**and **_**Eclipse.**_** Again, I'm sorry this wasn't out before now, considering it's no longer than any of my other chapters. **

**Anyway, what do you like (or dislike) so far? Review and tell me!**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: This chapter is a week or two after Edward and Bella return to Forks from Phoenix. I realize that I haven't updated in forever, and I apologize; these last few weeks have been crazy for me.**

**Shelly Cope POV  
**

So maybe I had panicked a little. The Cullens were back in school now, plus Bella, and in the end, I hadn't had to track them down. They cut it close though; Jasper, Rosalie, and Emmett came back to school the very day I had planned to ask Chief Swan to start a search for the Cullens. Alice, Edward, and Bella came back a little while later, just as Jasper, Rosalie, and Emmett told me they would.

I found out quickly what had happened. Apparently, Edward had gone to reason with Bella after she ran from Forks, and his family had gone with him for support. Bella agreed to come back to Forks but then tripped on a staircase—which I really didn't doubt, considering her klutziness—and she had ended up in the hospital. All the students were back in Forks High School now where I could keep an eye on them, and it turns out that my worrying was only half-justified.

I never told the other teachers the rumor I had heard about Edward and Bella's breakup, and I was grateful for that now. The two of them seemed happier than ever when they came back to school, and if they ever had broken up, they didn't have much to show for it. Edward refused to leave Bella's side, especially now that she was in a wheelchair. I also saw that he had signed her cast with a "Love, Edward" at the end. Yes, they were still together.

I ran to the teachers' lounge one last time to update the other teachers. They didn't act like it, but I knew they _had _to care about our missing students, and they deserved to hear what had happened.

As it turns out, all the other teachers knew where the Cullens had gone. I hadn't had this opportunity to come to the teachers' lounge before just now, and my friend Karen had filled them in. I was so proud of her. I stayed for a few minutes anyway, talking to the others there.

"Don't take this the wrong way, because I _am_ sorry she broke her leg," Coach Clapp began, "but…this means Bella can't participate in gym class, right? My students are safe for the next few weeks, at least—maybe more! Even when she's in the walking cast, I can excuse her from gym, so long as she has a note…"

I laughed with the other teachers. Leave it to Coach Clapp to have an injured student and only care because he didn't want her to trip over the other, more athletic students.

"By the way, Coach, how's that bet coming?" I asked him. "According to your bet, Bella and Edward will only last three weeks, and have you seen the two of them together lately? They're inseparable!"

"Whatever. I only put like five dollars on that bet," he mumbled.

"Five dollars and twelve cents, actually," I said. "And I hope you didn't want that money back!"

As much as I enjoyed taunting Coach Clapp, I had to leave; prom was coming very soon, and I had a lot of organizing to do to make sure that the students who signed up to go were on the list the day of the prom. It was a job I took very seriously.

Sitting down at my desk, I saw immediately that the Cullens had signed up to go to the dance for the first time since their arrival. Bella was going with Edward, but I had the sense that it was either Edward's decision or that Bella just hadn't been told yet. Then again, it wasn't as if Edward really had to _ask_ Bella to go with him. Who would say no to a date with Edward Cullen? I added Bella and all of the Cullens to the list of attendees and moved on to the others who had signed up today. There weren't many new people today, which didn't surprise me. We'd never exactly had a lot of people to come to the prom each year.

After adding everybody's name to the list, I was out of jobs to do. Technically, I should have started working on schedules for next year, but I dreaded scheduling, and I usually had others to help me with it anyway. Instead I decided to call up Karen with the phone on my desk. I knew she was on her lunch break now, so we would be able to talk for at least a few minutes.

"Hi, Karen," I began once she picked up her phone. "Have you heard? The Cullens are all going to the prom this year for the first time."

"It shouldn't surprise me that this is their first year going. They must be some of the least social kids in the school. I hope it won't be difficult working with them next year."

"Oh, don't worry. I must say, they're some of the most polite people in this entire town. I just can't wait to see them all dressed up for prom night. Really, can you imagine the Cullen men in tuxes? I'm getting flustered just thinking about it!"

"I know! Not that we're, you know, looking. They're only the most gorgeous people in the school. By the way, Edward is bringing Bella, right? I know she never went to the last dance, even though half the guys in school were hoping she would."

"Edward is definitely bringing Bella. I don't know if you've seen those two in the halls, but…" I trailed off there, letting her finish my thought for me.

"Oh, I've seen them making out. I never know whether to break them up or not. I know I'm supposed to, but they just look so happy together."

"Let kids be kids. I personally couldn't care less. And they always stop themselves before I would have to intervene, so it doesn't really matter."

The bell rang, and Karen's lunch break was over. We decided it was time to hang up, although neither of us really wanted to return to our work now.

"Promise me we can keep in touch over the summer," she said.

"No problem. And actually, I wanted to introduce you to Mrs. Stanley this summer. I think you'd really like her. And if there's one person in this town who knows everything about everybody, it would have to be her. She hears everything since she works at the bank, and I'm sure she wouldn't mind telling us about what happens to the students over their vacation."

"Sounds great. Alright, I'll call you later."

"Bye."

With that, our conversation was over. I opened up the scheduling program on my computer to start organizing the students into their classes. It was tedious work, but I didn't have much else to do.

Then again…

Would it really matter if I put this off for one extra day? I shut off the computer, saving the small amount of work I _had_ done, then I left my desk. It was a wonder Mr. Greene hadn't fired me yet for all the time I spent away from my work. Thankfully, he didn't seem to care, as long as I got my work done eventually.

I ambled through the halls and around the buildings for a while, hoping to find something new to do, but there was no fighting it. I had known from the start where I would end up. I pushed open the door that led into the teachers' lounge and got myself some more coffee. No matter what my job description was, this lounge was where I belonged, and I wasn't going to give this up.

**A/N: To clear up any future confusion, here's what's happening with my story:**

**First, let me say that I do intend to write more chapters, but they'll be about what happens in **_**New Moon**_**, not **_**Twilight**_**. Because this story is the teachers' take on what happens in the **_**Twilight**_** series, I need to make sure that my writing is based on things that actually happened in the books. I've written just about everything I can based on **_**Twilight**_**, so although the next chapters will be virtually the same, they will be about **_**New Moon**_** now. If you haven't read **_**New Moon**_** yet and don't want to read spoilers, don't read these next chapters!**

**As always, review and tell me what you thought. Questions, comments, concerns…I'd love to hear anything you have to say, so go review! **


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: This chapter is a little different from the others, but I wanted to give you a glimpse of what the teachers are doing over summer vacation. Obviously, I have no idea what they really did, so you'll just have to go with it. And pay attention to the POV's, they change a lot in this chapter!  
**

**Bob Banner POV**

"Stupid shopping cart," I muttered. "It never fails. Every single time I use a cart, either a wheel won't work or the whole cart squeaks every other step."

I was in the middle of my rant when a salesgirl interrupted me.

"May I help you, sir?" she asked, clearly faking her enthusiasm. She was probably here just to make a few hundred dollars over the summer, and then she'd be off to college or a job or whatever.

"Do you have any pink primroses? I—I mean, my wife—wants to put to put them in the garden and I couldn't find them."

"Oh, yeah, they'd be over there in the gardening section, with the other seed packets." She walked away then, leaving me on my own while she worked with another customer.

_In the gardening section? With the other seed packets? Did she think I was so stupid that I hadn't already checked there?_

I was annoyed with her very unhelpful advice, but I decided to check the aisle one more time. The primroses were almost gone, as they were some of the only flowers that could grow in shade, but I found them tucked behind some zinnias. I threw a few packets into my cart and browsed the other plants.

It was difficult to grow a garden here in Forks, seeing as we had almost no sunlight, but I enjoyed the challenge. I loved to watch the seeds bloom and become flowers, and I loved the satisfaction of knowing that I had made the flowers grow. In the end, I didn't mind having to spend a little more effort on choosing flowers; it was all worth it. However, I still wasn't quite comfortable with others knowing this about me. People always assumed that it was my wife who was obsessed with flowers, and it was embarrassing to correct them.

I drove home with a new hose and some more flowers, ready to start my work. Miraculously, the sun was shining, so I could probably get a lot done. Boy, was I wrong.

At first, it was only drizzling a little. After living in Forks for so long, this seemed like nothing, so I kept working. It started to rain harder, but I was determined to begin this year's garden, so I still kept working. But then the lightning struck. If I didn't have trees in my yard, I'd have stayed outside anyway, but I knew these flowers weren't worth dying for. So I watched helplessly from my window as the rain beat down on my new flowers.

Forget challenging, gardening in Forks was nearly impossible. I made my promise then and there: as soon as I retired, I was moving to sunny California.

**Karen Tratsch POV**

"Shelly, you're a genius! I so owe you. Tonight was perfect!"

"Are you still in the restaurant, or do we have time to talk?"

"No, I'm on my home phone. We can talk."

"So I was right about Dylan?"

"Yes! He was great; you really are a matchmaker."

"But how was the date?" she asked me. I could tell she was getting impatient, but I was just as anxious to tell her.

"Oh, it was a typical dinner date, I guess. We talked a lot—did you know Dylan has been to Africa? He had_ tons_ of stories. He even paid the bill for me, which I hadn't expected. I'll have to call him sometime to thank him…"

"You sound really happy, Karen. I'm glad you had fun, I was worried you might not like him. And we're still on for next Thursday, right?"

"Yes! Brad Pitt movie marathon, noon until however long it takes, and don't worry, I've rented everything I could find."

" 'Atta girl. Now go thank Dylan for tonight, and you better have something to tell me about you two by Thursday! G'night."

We hung up, and I sat for a minute in pure satisfaction. Maybe it was a kid thing, but I was just loving summer vacation.

**Julia Hammond POV**

It was warm outside, albeit very humid, and I was reading on the deck as I sipped my lemonade. Finally, I had time to sit back, relax, and enjoy my time off from work. Not that I didn't love my job as a school nurse, I was just tired of seeing teenagers fake a fever or stomachache to get out of some test or project. Summer was here, Forks was warming up, and—

And somebody was crying in my backyard. Well, it had been 30 minutes already… Iput down my book and got up to inspect the problem.

I had volunteered to take care of my grandchildren, Tommy and Danielle, for two weeks this summer. My daughter clearly needed a break from the kids, and I felt it was the least I could do. After all, how bad could it be in only two weeks?

When I found my grandchildren, I saw that Danielle, who had just turned five, was crying. She was sitting down, and I saw that she had a skinned knee.

"Tommy pushed me and made me fall down and now my knee hurts!" she said through her tears.

"Did not! You just fell because you were running," shouted her six-year-old brother.

"No! I was fine until you ran into me!" argued Danielle, who was still sobbing.

I fought the urge to break down in tears myself. Something like this had happened every day so far, and my patience had really started to wear thin. I couldn't believe my daughter put up with this every day.

"How about this, Dani? We'll put ice on it to make it feel better and I'll go bring you a Barbie band-aid."

She nodded, so I picked her up and seated her in the kitchen. I put a couple ice cubes into a paper towel and wrapped a rubber band around it so that Danielle couldn't drop the ice onto the floor. I instructed her to hold the ice against her knee while I found her a band-aid.

_And I thought I would get a break from my job over the summer! Hah! As long as I have grandkids, my work will never be over._

I came back with her band-aid and patched up Danielle. Then I sent her back outside with Tommy, who I told to be more careful. Then I walked out of the kitchen, picked up my book and my lemonade, and reclaimed my seat on the deck.

Maybe this wasn't so bad.

**Coach Clapp POV**

My wife stepped in front of the television, blocking my view of the baseball game I had on. I shifted to the side so that I could continue watching, and my wife responded by turning off the TV altogether.

"Honey, get up and go do something. You've hardly moved from this spot in a month, and I swear you've started collecting dust."

"Love you too, sweetie." I could tell by now when I could ignore what she said and when she was serious. This was not something she would let me ignore. Sighing, I pushed myself off of my couch and grabbed a basketball out of the closet.

"I'm gonna go shoot some hoops. I'll be back in a half hour or so."

The park right across the street had a few basketball courts, so it wasn't as if I was really going anywhere. She nodded in approval, which surprised me a little. I thought for sure she'd want me to be a little more ambitious, but I guess at this point she didn't care, so long as I did _something_.

It was a little ironic, that I was so lazy over the summer. I really did like sports of all kinds, but by the end of the school year, I was usually sick of them. So this was the closest I'd been to a basketball since winter, and I had to say, carrying that ball felt like meeting up with an old friend. I ambled down the block and across the street, stopping when I got to the park.

Both basketball courts were free today, which I completely understood. It was raining, of course, and it wasn't even warm today. Nobody wanted to be outside in this weather, so I would have the courts completely to myself.

I dribbled the ball around a little, ignoring the fact that my T-shirt was already soaked from the rain, and went to shoot the ball. It missed. At least nobody had been around to see that. I caught the rebound lazily and threw the ball again. This time it hit the rim, then bounced away from the net and towards the ground.

Already I could feel the adrenaline rush. Nobody was here to see that I kept missing, but I was embarrassed. I expected better of myself, and now that I had gotten started, I wouldn't be able to stop. Before I knew it, over an hour had passed. I was making most of my shots now, although I was getting tired. The rain had kept me cool before, but now it wasn't enough. I scooped up the ball, wishing I had just a little more energy, and walked back to my house, exhausted.

**Shelly Cope POV**

"Hi! Any news?" I asked my friend, Mrs. Stanley. I hadn't gotten to talk to her in weeks, and who knows what had happened in that time. She worked at the town bank, where we were now, so I didn't always have the chance to stop by and talk.

"Well, Jessica and Mike broke up last week."

"Why?" I asked. I hadn't expected them to last forever as a couple, but I was surprised that it was so sudden. They had seemed happy back in June…

"I don't know. My daughter didn't want to talk about it, so I don't think the breakup was her idea, but who knows?"

"Huh. Well, Bella and Edward are still a couple, right? I had a bet on them, and I'd hate to lose…"

"Oh, sure! In fact, they seem happier than ever. I was talking to Chief Swan a little, he said Bella's been spending half her time with the Cullens. He says he doesn't mind it much, though; he thinks the Cullens are great."

"Hmm. I'd heard he was a little upset with Edward; you know he blames him for Bella's disappearance to Phoenix a while ago. Still, they do make such a great couple. They're just so happy together. And, speaking of which, do you know that Edward came up to me about a month ago? He asked if he could switch his classes around a little, and you know how he is, I couldn't say no. But once he left, I realized he had changed his schedule so that he could be in most of the same classes as Bella!"

"Really? Wow, they're more involved than I thought, then. Jess said she wasn't sure they would last very long…"

We exchanged gossip for a while, moving on to the adults in town when I had heard all there was to know about my students. I suppose I was prying a little, but I hated to be away from people for very long, students included. But I was at a bank, and a couple people had just walked into line behind me. I pretended to be finishing a transaction with her, and I stepped out of line. Honestly, I was a little disappointed that I had to leave. Summer was hard on me simply because I hated to be away from everybody for so long.

As much as I had wished for summer back when I was working every day, I could hardly wait to get back to the school.

**A/N: This is a little longer than my usual update, (Isn't summer wonderful?) so go **_**review**_**! Tell me what you like or didn't like, and if you have any ideas for the chapters about New Moon, I'd love to hear them!**


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: School has begun again, and Edward and Bella are in their senior year now. But Edward left yesterday, as the teachers are about to discover (although right now nobody knows very much).**

**Mr. Berty POV**

The first weeks of school were always the easiest. For me, anyway. I'd told my students to cover their new textbooks, and that was about it for homework. This first week, I'd had almost nothing to grade. I'd hardly had to teach, either—the first week was always review material, and my students already knew mostly everything I was supposed to teach them. So I didn't really mind being back in school, yet.

I frowned as I marked both Edward Cullen and Bella Swan absent from class. Bella Swan was a mystery—she was probably absent because she was sick or something—but I knew exactly why Edward Cullen wasn't here. Hopefully he would be removed from my list soon so that I wouldn't have to mark him absent every single day this year. It was aggravating to tell the office _every day_ that the kid who had moved wasn't in class. I mean, duh.

A few days ago I had heard from my friend, Dr. Gerandy, that Carlisle was moving his whole family to L.A. Dr. Gerandy had complained often that Carlisle was leaving the hospital on such short notice, and I couldn't really blame him. I wasn't quite sure how it would be around here with all the Cullens gone. But still, as crazy as it was to move a family of seven in a matter of days, it was his decision to make, and we all had to learn to cope with it.

The bell rang, and I turned my attention to my senior English class. I asked the class if any of them had taken my suggestion and watched _Romeo and Juliet _lately. One girl raised her hand shyly, and most of them stared at me as if I had two heads. Great. Not even two weeks had passed and their senioritis had already taken root.

None of the kids seemed prepared to begin reading anything, but we had a lot of work to get through this year. I began my lecture, trying to prepare the students for our unit on love stories. I felt a little bad for the boys, as they were clearly uninterested in the whole topic, but they would have to just deal with it.

"So," I began. "We'll be reading _Romeo and Juliet_, which, as you all should know by now, was written by Shakespeare…"

I trudged through my lecture for the next 45 minutes, giving my students more information about Shakespeare and his plays than they would ever care to hear. With my remaining time, I distributed the books. Finally, the bell rang to signal the end of first period. I was just as pleased as my students, who had mostly looked dead throughout the lesson. Already I missed Edward and Bella. At least those two managed to stay awake the whole class. And to think that it was only first period…

There was no class for me to teach next period, so I was free to do whatever I wanted. Usually I graded papers, but I today I didn't have much work to do, and I was done with all my work in under 15 minutes. Instead of spending the rest of the period in the classroom, I wandered through the campus, and into the teachers' lounge.

**Shelly Cope POV**

The first few weeks of school were always the hardest for me. Without fail, I spent my first day trying to correct mistakes in students' schedules, and then I had to notify the teachers of the changes before moving on to the next student and starting all over again. Sometimes the students had nothing wrong with their schedules but wanted a few classes rearranged so they could be with their friends. I was quick to send them back out the door so I could work with the others.

It didn't stop after the first day, either. Students would come in with forms and files that were overdue but that I would have to take anyway. Then either I would bring these next door to Julia or I'd have to spend the next few minutes filing them myself. Occasionally, a freshman would wander in, confused about where his or her class was. But they were easy to take care of: I'd give the lost student a map of the school and he or she usually never came back into the office.

That was all starting to stop, as we'd been in school for over a week now. I was missing the teachers' lounge right now, and I decided on a whim that I was going to stop by. Everybody could live without me for half an hour, I hoped. I pushed my chair away from the desk that was beginning to feel like a prison and skipped down to the lounge.

First, I checked under the vending machine to see if the money from our bet last year was still there. Miraculously, it was, along with the slip of paper telling what each teacher had bet. The money was probably only there because all the others had forgotten about the bet, but I could easily remind those who had forgotten.

In fact, we had probably raised enough money to fix the vending machine now. I had found a repair service online yesterday and written down their number. I had the number in my purse with me, so I decided to try it. An employee answered on the second ring and asked how he could help me.

"We have a broken vending machine, and I was wondering if you could send somebody to fix it. Maybe sometime next week? I'm at the Forks High School."

"No problem. How about Tuesday at 9 A.M.?"

The time was fine for me—it was, at the very least, an excuse for me to come to the teachers' lounge again—so I gave the man our address and hung up. I was excited about getting our vending machine fixed because I knew that it wouldn't have happened without the bet I had made. Soon I would have to find a custodian and tell him to stock our vending machine. Getting the food wasn't a problem because there are a few vending machines here that we do keep stocked, but the custodian would probably faint in shock. Nobody would have thought we could actually get something fixed in this school; when something broke around here, it tended to stay that way.

Suddenly, I heard the creak of our door when it swung open. I looked up hopefully, thinking that maybe it was Karen or one of the other teachers with something to tell me. It wasn't. It was Mr. Berty, and he was looking, well, bored. Like he'd come in here as a last resort and wasn't really expecting me or anyone else to be in here. Mr. Berty hardly visited the lounge, and I knew he assumed that the others were the same way (although, for the most part, he was right).

"Hey," he asked absentmindedly, "Shelly, can you maybe take Mr. Cullen's name off of my attendance slips? So I don't have to mark him absent each day for the rest of the year?"

"What are you talking about?" I responded. "He's in your class. I can't just take off his name."

"Didn't you hear? Well, I guess not, but I thought somebody would have told you by now. The Cullens moved, all of them. To L.A. or something, even Edward and Alice. I guess since they're good students Carlisle isn't worried about them leaving so suddenly. Dr. Gerandy's been complaining that Carlisle was allowed to leave so suddenly, no two weeks' notice or anything."

I knew the Gerandys, sort of. My friend, Mrs. Stanley, worked at the bank with Mrs. Gerandy, and I knew from my short conversations with her that Dr. Gerandy was not the type to send baseless rumors.

Still, I found it hard to believe that Mr. Berty was right. To move a whole family virtually overnight, and with five teenagers…it was unheard of. The Cullens had never quite seemed to settle in, but they must be crazy to move so suddenly. I remembered Edward's girlfriend, Isabella, and felt a pang of sympathy for her. All the other Cullens were paired up within their own family of foster children, but the Cullens couldn't just take Isabella with them. Those two would have to date long-distance, assuming they were even still together.

Shoot! If the move had broken them up, I would lose my own bet. Oh, well. I had more fun getting everybody involved in bets than I did by winning them, and at least we'd all get a working vending machine out of it.

Mr. Berty had waited and watched me in the few seconds it took for me to process all this. He could probably tell by the shift in my expression that he had convinced me.

"Crazy, huh?" he said, and I had to agree. But for me, it wasn't just strange, but also sad. It was hard for me to watch these kids grow up and move on when I knew I'd never see them again. The Cullens were no different, and I'd really grown to like them in the few years they were here.

I stood up, sighing. I reasoned that if Mr. Greene had known about this already, he would have told me. My job now was to spread the news to Mr. Greene, and Karen, and all the other teachers, especially those who were supposed to teach Edward or Alice this year. For the first time that I could remember, I didn't want to be the one to break the news. In another situation, I would have enjoyed spreading the story, but I was a little upset myself, and I was more than a little confused. Eventually I would have to learn more because I hated to feel confused or in the dark about anything that happened. But for now, I would have to make do with what I already knew. I never thought there would be a day that I wouldn't want to tell everybody about the latest drama, but that day had arrived.

**A/N: Wow, what I'd give for the ability to update on a regular schedule. Thank you all for sticking with this story, despite the completely random updates.**

**This chapter began Bella's senior year, and while I'd like it to be a little cheerier, I don't think it would make sense. Edward leaving was horrible in New Moon, and I felt that I should reflect that in the usually-happy Shelly. Or did you not feel this chapter was very sad at all? Leave a review and tell me what you thought!**


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: I had a bit of writers' block with this chapter, but I think I'm past the worst of it now. Also, fair warning: I'll be away from my computer a lot next month, so I may not be able to write very much. I promise I'll try, but sorry in advance if I leave you guys hanging for a while.**

**Shelly Cope POV**

I shoved my dollar into the newly repaired vending machine in the teachers' lounge, crossing my fingers for luck. This was my third try and my only dollar bill; and I wasn't sure that the machine would take the crumpled dollar. Finally, it accepted the dollar, and as I munched on my new bag of popcorn, I thought back to the day the machine had been repaired.

"It's right this way," I had said, leading the repair man into the teachers' lounge. "It hasn't been worked in ages, but none of us knew what to do."

I had then sent the man to work on the vending machine, poured myself a cup of coffee, and sat down on my favorite recliner with a magazine. The man hadn't come inside with any tools, so I'd assumed that first he would look at the machine and then come back with spare parts once he knew what was broken. I fully expected the repair to last at least the next half hour, so I was shocked when I saw the man stand back up and come up to me a minute later.

"It'll cost you about ten dollars—it costs money to send somebody down, you know."

"But what's wrong with it? And how long will it take?" I had asked him, confused. To me it seemed he was stalling his answer. Did he have bad news?

"Well, I kind of already fixed the machine. It was unplugged, you see…"

"Oh," I'd responded simply. I gave him the money and showed him out the door, feeling somewhat embarrassed. To think that, all this time, it just wasn't plugged in! And I hadn't spent as much as money as I had expected, so there was plenty left. Maybe I would just allot the remaining money towards buying snacks to fill the vending machine. It would be easy to do, and then I'd never have to think about this whole fiasco again.

Mr. Berty and Mr. Varner walked into the lounge as I threw out my empty bag of popcorn, and I focused back on the present.

"Not sure what to do anymore," I heard Mr. Berty whisper to Mr. Varner. "I don't even like to ask her for answers anymore; she always sounds so lifeless."

The two of them noticed me then, and for a second they looked shocked to see that there was somebody else here.

"Oh, it's just you," said Mr. Varner. "We were discussing, well, we were talking about Ms. Swan's recent behavior."

I sighed because I knew exactly what he meant by that. It had taken Bella Swan a full week to return to school, and now that she was back, she was completely different. Mrs. Gerandy from the bank told me that, from what her husband had seen, the Cullens' move had made Bella nearly catatonic. For a while, Mr. Gerandy had feared that Bella wouldn't get better, but the worst was over when Bella finally came back to school. Although she was supposedly better, I hadn't yet seen her looking happy, and I suspected that Mr. Berty and Mr. Varner would tell me more of the same.

"How is she doing?" I asked tentatively.

"I don't really know," Mr. Berty began. "She doesn't seem to do much of anything anymore. Sometimes the other students try to talk to her, but she hardly even speaks back to them—just a nod or a quick yes or no. And if I ask her something, she'll give me the shortest answer she can and then go back to staring into space."

"I've never seen her concentrate so hard on her notebook," Mr. Varner added. "She seems determined not to think about anything else, and frankly, it's a little scary. And by the way, Karen is the guidance counselor around here. Shouldn't she be helping Bella with this?"

"She's tried," I told him. "But Mr. Greene only wants Karen to help students academically; he doesn't want Karen to ask her about anything that's 'too personal'. So I'm not sure if there's anything we can do. Personally, I think it's ridiculous, but _you_ try arguing with Mr. Greene."

"Oh," responded Mr. Varner. We all sat in silence for the next minute, unsure of what to say. None of us knew what to do with a student like this, and she technically wasn't even doing anything wrong.

I'd expected Bella to be upset when the Cullens moved, but she was worse than I'd imagined. She'd been Edward's girlfriend, and I knew she was close friends with Alice, so I hardly expected her to be happy. But her reaction was stronger than I'd suspected, and now I was lost on what to do.

"So," Mr. Varner began, awkwardly changing the subject. "What did you think about that staff meeting last Wednesday? It was, um, pretty special, wasn't it?"

Mr. Berty and I both groaned at the memory. Mr. Greene had called the entire staff into the cafeteria after school several days ago to talk about our duties here at Forks High. Once a year, every year, Mr. Greene made us all listen to one of his super-lectures. He had kept us after school for over an hour just to remind us that it's our responsibility to know where all the students are and what they're doing. Nobody had even done anything bad lately, but Mr. Greene decided that something _would_ happen in the future if he didn't enlighten us with his speech on responsibility.

"Now why would you bring that up?" asked Mr. Berty. "Believe me, I don't need to be reminded of the staff meeting. Lately I've been trying to forget the whole thing. Linda says she was counting the number of times Mr. Greene said 'responsible'—it was something like 65 times. And I, unfortunately, still remember it all vividly."

None of us had anything to say about the meeting after that, but I noticed with surprise that both men were staring at me expectantly.

"What?" I asked, disconcerted by their stares.

"Well, we kind of expected you to say something now," said Mr. Varner.

"Yeah, you always have _something_ to say. No stories, no gossip to share?" Mr. Berty asked.

"Oh, if that's all," I said. "Well, really nothing has happened lately, besides—well, you know. Mike and Jessica broke up, but that was over the summer. And our next dance is still over a month away, so there's nothing exciting going on in school."

"Wow," Mr. Berty began teasingly. "Never thought I'd see the day when Shelly had nothing to talk about. Oh, wait, who won that bet you made about Edward and Bella? Or are they still dating?"

"No, the move definitely broke them up. Julia won the bet," I told him glumly.

"Ha-ha, you lost your own bet," said Mr. Berty. "Really, though, nothing has happened lately? I thought there would at least be some sort of message for you to pass on."

"No, nothing. If you have something you want to tell the other teachers, then fine, but right now I've got nothing."

The bell signaled the end of second period, and I realized with a shock that I had been in the lounge for almost an hour. Somebody probably had some new attendance slips for me to file, or something. I was a bit surprised nobody had come looking for me yet. Mr. Varner and Mr. Berty seemed just as surprised as I was that the period had ended already. We all got up to leave at the same time, and we said our good-byes as we each walked towards a different section of the school.

I thought back to the end of our conversation as I walked slowly to the front office. Was it a coincidence that I had run out of gossip right when the Cullens moved? Surely not all of my announcements related to that one family. But I tried to remember the rumors I'd been spreading lately, and most of them really did relate to either Bella Swan or the Cullens. Once I realized this, I missed the Cullens more than I ever had. Bella was still here, at least, but that was a small comfort since she wasn't even acting like herself anymore.

I swept aside these thoughts and sat down at my desk. The Cullens were gone, but I wouldn't let that shake me. As much as I missed being able to speculate about Edward and Bella's relationship, I decided to put it all behind me. But still, had it been too much to ask that I could see the two of them graduate, together and happy? Until now, I hadn't thought so.

**A/N: This chapter was gloomier than I had originally planned, but I guess you can't expect a student to act like Bella did and escape notice.**

**Now go review! You can say whatever you want, and I will love you forever for reviewing. I promise.**


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: Just to be clear, I've skipped over several months of Bella's senior year (the months when she was depressed). I could probably write about those months, but I don't think there's much to write about that any of us would care to read. So, this chapter takes place in the beginning of March in New Moon.**

**Mr. Berty POV**

Once again, the school year slipped by before I knew what had hit me. The wire basket on my desk was overflowing with essays and homework assignments to me grade, which was possibly my least favorite part of being back in school. I had learned in my years of teaching that the basket _only_ emptied on summer vacation, when it was impossible for my students to fill it back up with essays.

My students went back to their old habits, too. They complained endlessly about the homework I made them do and said that it would probably take all night for them to finish it. Then school ended for the day, and they went out with friends and completely forgot about the work they had complained about. Often, the students didn't remember the homework until they were back in school, and then they had to make up silly excuses for why they hadn't done it or rush to finish everything during lunch.

It was second period, my free period. I knew that I should probably get to work on making a lesson plan or grading papers or something. But earlier today, Mr. Varner told me that he had confiscated a deck of cards from one of his students and didn't have to give it back until the end of the day. He said that if I had the time, I was invited to come to the lounge and take a break from all my work. I looked back and forth between the door and the looming pile of papers to grade, and I made my decision. I stood up, stretched, and walked out the door to spend my free period in the teachers' lounge.

When I got to the lounge, I was more excited than I'd been in weeks. This time of year was always dull since school wasn't ending yet and it was too cool for a good beach trip.

But when I got inside, I didn't see Mr. Varner. Shelly Cope was there, as usual, and she looked like she'd found something to talk about. That was great for her, but not for me. She could talk for a long time, and she didn't really care whom she talked to or what she said to that person. I sat down, resigned, and wondered whether Mr. Varner was even coming.

Hoping to direct the conversation away from the inevitable gossip I was afraid to hear, I said, "Bella's looking a little better now, isn't she?"

It turns out that this was the exactly wrong thing for me to say. Or exactly right, depending on how you look at it. Anyway, I guess it was something Shelly actually did want to talk about because she started speaking so quickly that I could hardly make out her words. I wasn't sure how to answer her, so I decided to let her talk until she had run out of things to say.

"So you noticed too?" she asked, surprised. "I mean, I could tell she was getting better, but I don't understand it! She looks fine and I hear she's talking again, laughing even, but what's changed?"

"Um…"

"She isn't trying any new afterschool activities—I'd have seen her name on the lists—and she seems to have the same friends as always, so I can't see what's new that would make her act so much happier all of a sudden. I remember that she was sick a couple of weeks ago, and I thought that was a bad sign, but she seemed pretty normal when she got back, and now I'm just confused!"

While I wasn't sure what to say to Shelly, I knew exactly what she meant about Bella. Just last week, Bella had volunteered to answer a question, and that was rare even for the rest of the students. Her skin was just as pale as ever, but her cheeks were looking a little redder, like she really was back to her old self. I didn't understand the change either, but unlike Shelly, I didn't really care what had caused it. My job was to teach, and I wasn't interested in the students' personal lives. But Shelly talked straight through the next several minutes, and at that point, I had heard enough.

I was relieved when Mr. Varner walked through the door with Coach Clapp. The lounge felt cramped with the four of us here, but I was glad not to be stuck in conversation with Shelly all period. I shot Mr. Varner a look of desperation, and he took that as his cue to show off the deck of cards he'd told me he had.

"Hey, guys, what do you think about a friendly card game? It's finally Friday; let's enjoy ourselves a little."

We all thought it was a good idea, but it took some time to find a game we could agree on.

"Go fish?" I suggested.

"No way, pick a real game," scoffed Mr. Varner.

"Go fish is a real game!" I argued.

"Oh, please, go fish is for toddlers. How about Hearts?"

"I hate Hearts," Shelly whined.

"Euchre?" Mr. Varner asked.

None of us had played Euchre, so Mr. Varner tried to explain it to us. But none of us was able to understand his explanation at all, and I was starting to feel some sympathy for the students who had to learn math from him. We gave up on Euchre pretty quickly.

"What about Poker?" Coach Clapp asked.

We were all willing to play, but none of us had the money for it. However, we'd been trying to pick a game for the last five minutes, so we decided to play Poker anyway. There was a whole box of sugar packets in the cupboard under the coffee machine, and we used them in place of money. Despite the substitution, we had a lot of fun. Shelly wasn't very happy, but that's just because she was horrible at Poker. You could see how good her hand was by one glance at her face, and she had already managed to lose about 150 packets of sugar.

"All right, Coach, three queens. Beat that!" I said.

"Yeah, sure," he said absentmindedly. "By the way, Shelly, can you add Newton and Crowley to today's detention list?"

"You gave Mike and Tyler detention? That's strange. What'd they do?" she asked.

"I caught them trying to peek into the girls' locker room after class. When I asked them about it, Tyler kind of stammered and claimed that he'd left a textbook behind."

We all laughed at his flimsy excuse before I remembered that Coach Clapp still hadn't shown us his cards. I told him to stop stalling, and he put down his winning hand— four tens.

"Cheater!" Mr. Varner exclaimed. "I had that ten of diamonds at the start of the game. You snatched it out of the discard pile while we were all laughing!"

"Fine, you caught me," he admitted sheepishly. "I guess I'm broke now. I bet the rest of my sugar on that hand."

He swept the pile of sugar towards me, adding it on to the mound of sugar I already had. Mr. Varner was still in the game, but I undoubtedly winning so far. I hadn't expected to be so successful, but I understood why I was doing so well. Whenever I was teaching, it was my job to look professional no matter how much I needed a break from my students. I'd needed to control my face, and I guess I was better at it than I'd thought. Maybe I would do this after I retired. . .

The bell rang, and we all groaned. Mr. Varner, the coach and I all had classes to teach, and Shelly probably had to file papers or something back at the office.

"Can't wait for spring break," I muttered.

"Yeah, join the club. I can't believe it's only March," Coach Clapp said.

"Poker was fun, though. We should play it again sometime, when things slow down around here," said Mr. Varner.

The three of us agreed with Mr. Varner before leaving to go our separate ways. Within minutes, I was back in my classroom and more or less ready to teach.

"All right, students," I said unhappily. "Your essays are due today. Please pass them to the front. Samantha, you can just put those on my desk." Samantha stood up, holding the class's assignments, and put them down on an empty section of my desk. She didn't use the basket, of course—it was too full to hold anything else. I sighed, knowing that I would have a lot of work to do tonight. And still, I couldn't bring myself to regret the time I had spent in the lounge last period. I really had enjoyed spending time with my colleagues, and I had to say, I'd do it all again.

**A/N: As I said, I'm pretty busy this month. I'll try to keep working on this, but I can't make any promises. Sorry.**

**Anyway, what did you think of this chapter, or of my story in general? Review and tell me! (I'm making my "pretty please review" face right now. Come on, you know what I mean. Go review!)**


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: In case there was any confusion last chapter, this is the time when Bella was hanging out with Jacob (he doesn't go to school in Forks, so the teachers wouldn't have known about him). Also, since I had to skip so many months of New Moon, this story will move on to Eclipse soon, so be prepared for that. **

**Shelly Cope POV**

My eyes glazed over as I stared blankly at the screen of my decrepit office computer. This was easily the fifth time today that I had forgotten to focus on my work, and it was becoming a problem. After spending so much time in the teachers' lounge, I couldn't afford to waste any more. But my mind kept wandering away from my work and back towards everything I'd heard in the last few days. . .

First, I thought back to my conversation with Karen a few days ago. She said she'd gotten a very worried call from Chief Swan, and apparently he had hunted down Karen's number to ask her to keep an eye on Bella at school. Karen agreed to watch over Bella for the rest of the year, but Charlie had never told her why he was so nervous about her in the first place. I was surprised to hear that Bella would give any reason for Charlie to be worried, but that was the least of my concerns right now.

Harry Clearwater's death was the second surprise. He'd lived on the reservation, so I didn't know him personally, but I was sad to hear the news. He had had a wife and two children, and he had been rather young when his heart attack killed him. I knew it would take some time for people around town to feel better again after Harry's premature death.

Between my curiosity at Charlie's request and the sorrow from Harry's heart attack, I had a good amount of unfinished work.

The phone on my desk rang. I was relieved at the chance to take a break, although I wasn't sure what to expect. And I would never have thought to hear the lilting voice that sang through my phone. It was Carlisle.

"Excuse me, is this Ms. Cope?"

"H-How may I help you?" I stammered.

"Esme and I have decided to move back to Forks, and--,"

"You're moving back?" I asked, too stunned to be professional. "What about L.A.?"

"My wife feels much more comfortable here, and I think we're all glad to be back. Now, Edward and Alice haven't graduated yet, and I'd like for them to finish the school year here in Forks. I was told to speak with you about that?"

"Ah, of course. Well, we'll need copies of their transcripts—for the records, you know—but I see no reason why they can't graduate this year. They were both ahead on their credits back in September. They can resume their schedules from the beginning of the year, if you'd like."

"That sounds perfect. I've sent their transcripts already, and I believe you'll have them by tomorrow when Edward and Alice arrive. I'm sorry to trouble you with this. Goodbye."

Wait, the Cullens would be back in school _tomorrow_?

"It's no trouble at all," I lied. I managed to keep myself together just long enough to hang up the phone. But the Cullens were insane! Five minutes ago, I didn't even know that Carlisle was back in Forks, and now he was trying to tell me that his children would be here tomorrow? If it were anyone but the Cullens, I'd have called back to argue, but something told me not to waste my breath. Not that the Cullens were troublesome, but what made them think they could waltz back into Forks as if nothing had happened?

Out of everything that had happened lately, this was the biggest surprise of it all.

* * *

My mind was racing as I walked into the teachers' lounge with a sheet of paper. Until this morning, I'd thought that yesterday's call with Carlisle might have just been a dream. But just as Carlisle had promised, Edward and Alice were both in school today. I would definitely want to talk to my colleagues about all of this.

The piece of paper I was carrying was a schedule. All of the teachers had to spend time each month monitoring the hallways, the lunchroom, or the detention hall, and I was in charge of creating that schedule. Walking straight up to the bulletin board, I posted my schedule and turned around. The teachers were never happy to see it, but they all recognized that it was their job to help out around the school.

So when I looked at Mr. Berty, I couldn't believe that he was glaring at me.

"What's your problem? I post these every month, and you really aren't doing much this time…"

"Shelly, why was Edward Cullen sitting in my English class this morning?"

"Oh, that! Well, I meant to send a message about it, but I only found out yesterday myself. I guess I forgot."

"Wait, really? Edward and Alice are back?" interrupted Coach Clapp, who hadn't had either of them in his classes yet.

"Yes, the Cullens just moved back in. Apparently, Esme didn't enjoy herself in L.A. so the Cullens decided to finish up the year here," I informed him. "I gave them the same schedules they had in September, and they'll probably be able to graduate this year."

"Whatever," said Mr. Berty. "It's not like Edward is hard to teach. I'll just give him another A+ and send him out the door. But you could have warned me first. Now let me see that schedule you made--aw man, I have to do three detentions this month? I hate watching the detention kids. And they think _they're_ bored…"

"It's only fair. Last month you didn't have to do a single detention, and the other teachers are getting tired of it."

"Yeah, yeah." He turned back towards the Poker game he was playing with Coach Clapp, and I sat down to watch the game. The only real reason I had for coming here was to post the teachers' work schedule, but I decided it wouldn't be too bad to stay for just a few minutes. After working so hard yesterday, I needed a good break, and I did want to talk a little about the Cullens.

As I looked on, Mr. Berty won the round and pulled another pile of sugar packets into the large one in front of him. He was better at this game than any of us had expected.

Something seemed to occur to Mr. Berty as he shuffled the cards, and he said, "Hey, Coach--how about we make things more interesting. If I win this next round, you have to sub in for one of my after school detentions. If you win, I'll take one of yours."

"You're on," said Coach Clapp, who never turned down a good challenge. "Shelly, go get a pen and that schedule of yours. I'm about to win myself a free afternoon."

Five minutes later, Mr. Berty and Coach Clapp looked on as I changed the schedule. I crossed out Mr. Berty's name on one of the slots and changed it to read "Coach Clapp" while Coach whined and Mr. Berty bragged.

"I want a rematch. This one's for lunch duty," Coach Clapp growled.

"Look," I began, "I put a perfectly good schedule up on that wall. If you two want to go on messing it up, then go ahead. But I want no part of this, and Coach, don't complain to me when you end up with twice as many detentions to watch over. Just remember, it's your own fault."

With that, I stood up and left the room. Both men looked shocked at my outburst, but what was with the obsession over that stupid card game? I knew that I would probably like playing Poker a lot more if I were actually good at it, but I missed having people care about what I had to say.

Frustrated, I dialed Karen's cell. Fortunately, she picked up her phone quickly.

"Hi, Karen. Do you have time to talk right now?"

"I have maybe five minutes, and then I need to get back to work. Is something wrong, Shelly?"

"I don't know. I'm feeling a little unappreciated right now."

"Uh-oh. What happened?"

"I went into the lounge to post a copy of that work schedule I sent out, and I thought I'd stay and chat a few minutes. I mean, this last week has been a little crazy, you know? But instead of actually talking to me, Mr. Berty and Coach Clapp decided to just pass all that time playing Poker. And they've started making the loser take over a detention or lunch duty or something, so who knows what my schedule looks like now? I'll bet Mr. Berty won't proctor another detention as long as he lives, if he keeps this up."

"Hmm," Karen said after I had finished complaining. "You know, that sounds like something I might want to try. I do a _lot_ of hall duty."

"Karen!"

"Sorry. So, did you want to talk about what's been going on lately? You seem kind of worked up."

"Well, I still can't believe that the Cullens are back in Forks. Do you think this means Edward and Bella are back together?"

"Ooh, I hope so. They were cute together, and what a great story those two are! Of course, I never understood why they split up in the first place. Long-distance relationships aren't that bad."

"I never really got the details on that one. But if they can come back from this, they can come back from anything. Oh, I wonder if they'll get married! There's a chance, right?"

"Slow down, Shelly. We're not even sure that they're back together yet; you're just assuming they are. By the way, how are preparations for prom coming? Don't you have to start getting ready for that, like, now? And graduation?"

"Yeah, but I've got some plans made, and I can start putting up flyers in a month or two. We still have plenty of time. Now stop making me think about graduation; I hate watching these kids leave me."

"Okay, so is there anything else you're willing to talk about?"

"Um, not really. I was just upset that nobody was listening to me. Thanks for letting me vent a little."

"That's just part of the job. See you 'round, Shelly."

We hung up, and I was feeling better already. Now that I'd had a chance to talk to Karen, my annoyance at Mr. Berty and Coach Clapp was mostly gone. Instead, I was thinking about Edward and Bella and wondering what would happen next. I had a feeling that I'd been right about them from the start and that they could still be the happy couple I expected of them. On top of that, for possibly the first time in months, my workload was completely manageable.

Things were looking up.

**A/N: Hope you liked! Now, I'll be out of the house for a few days this week, so don't panic if I you don't hear from me or it takes me a few weeks to update. Just have patience, and I will be back. **

**Anyway, go review for this chapter! Please?**


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